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Mayweather inks Showtime deal; to fight Guerrero May 4

Undefeated WBC welterweight titlist Floyd Mayweather signed a ground-breaking six-fight deal with Showtime on Tuesday, ending a 23-fight affiliation with HBO Sports. Mayweather's first fight on his new network

Mayweather's first fight in his 30-month deal with the network will be May 4 on pay-per-view against Robert "The Ghost" Guerrero (31-1-1, 18 KOs), 29, a four-division world champion who has publicly sold himself as an opponent for Mayweather for the last few years.

Showtime vice president and general manager of sports programming Steven Espinoza, who has headed of the premium channel's sports division since November 2011, told USA TODAY Sports "It's the biggest deal (for Showtime) since (Mike) Tyson. I put it up there on the same level of importance. Floyd is far and away the most popular, well-known and talented fighter in the sport. It is absolutely critical for the . . . network that we secured him."

HBO Sports released a statement that said: "We made an aggressive and responsible pay-per-view offer. Now we move on. We are focused on the best boxing franchise in the television business. We are proud of the roster of superstar fighters and emerging stars who are scheduled to appear on the multiple HBO television platforms this year."

Mayweather, who will turn 36 on Sunday, is 43-0 with 26 knockouts and is the current WBC welterweight titlist and WBA super welterweight champ. His fight against Guerrero will be his first since defeating Miguel Cotto in May. That time away included two months in jail on a domestic assault charge against the mother of his children.

His first Showtime fight is expected to take place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, according to The Los Angeles Times. Espinoza said the deal with the MGM Grand was not yet finalized.

Espinoza also would not reveal the dollar amount involved in the deal, but said the process has been ongoing for awhile. "Floyd and Al Haymon (Mayweather's business manager) looked at the proposal and came back with many questions and many comments.

"Ultimately, after a lot of discussion, a lot of thought, we were able to come up with a package that brought him over here."

Espinoza said Showtime's parent company, CBS, was instrumental in bringing Mayweather to the network. "It was announced as a joint deal, and that was because CBS is very involved in this deal, in the sense of supporting it with all its various platforms, and that was important to Floyd as well."

Espinoza said he understood that Mayweather "is very committed to being very active at this stage in his career. I feel he has plenty left in the tank. He always stays in tremendous shape. He's one of the hardest-working guys in the sport. He hasn't been in very many 'wars,' so to speak. Floyd is still at the top of his game, no question."

Mayweather is expected to be trained for his fight with Guerrero by his father, Floyd Mayweather Sr., who trained his son in the past but the two have recently been estranged. Roger Mayweather, Floyd's uncle, has trained his nephew for several years. But Floyd Jr. tweeted on Valentine's Day that his father would train him for his May 4 fight.